I wasn’t mentally prepared for this in the slightest. I hadn’t seen Abel in years. Hell, I hadn’t even heard of Abel in years. 

Most people in this small town keep in contact. I have almost everyone from high school on facebook so even if we don’t talk anymore, we all know what we’ve been up to. But not Abel. He up and fell off the face of the planet after we… Well, after what happened between us. 

I felt immediate anger at Tyler for bringing me out here and putting me in this awkward situation. But I couldn’t blame him, he didn’t know anything. There are some secrets I kept from even him, and what went on between me and Abel was one of them. 

All he knew was that we were all once best friends and then, without warning, Abel moved across the country and never spoke to either of us again. Of course he’d be excited to see him and want to share that with me. 

But I was not excited and I knew that was likely showing on my face now. 

“Hey, Abel.” I said softly. 

I saw Tyler look at us both with confusion. I knew he now understood that this was not a happy reunion but he had no idea why. 

It was probably disappointing for him. He had missed Abel. We were quite the trio growing up. Abel grew up with his Aunt near Tyler’s house so from a young age, he was pretty much always playing at our side and that didn’t change until adulthood. 

From the outside looking in, it probably appeared that Tyler and I were the closest two friends in the trio because I spent so many nights at his house whereas Abel wasn’t allowed to have overnight visits. His Aunt was strict And, of course, Tyler and I had that brotherly bond. 

But truthfully, it was me and Abel that were the closest. Because Abel understood me in a way that Tyler couldn’t. 

Tyler had grown up so privileged, so unaware of all the bad that existed out in the world. In some ways, he was still like that. He had never experienced real tragedy or anything.

But Abel had. I had. And that connection between two kids who were essentially just trying to find their way in this world formed a strong bond. 

“Alright.” Tyler said awkwardly. “I have to go to the barbecue. I hope I’ll be able to talk to you later, Abel.” 

“Yeah, definitely.” He smiled at him as he started to step toward his car. 

The second he was inside, we could see Shirley tear into him and we awkwardly averted our gazes as he pulled out of the lot.

“So…” I said slowly. “What are you doing here? Did you come to the gym to talk to me?” 

“No.” He said hesitantly. “I, uhm, I’m actually working at the ice cream shop next door.” 

I looked over at the shop as I processed this. 

“Wait, you’re working here? In town? You’re living here?” 

“For the time being, yeah. I’m staying with my aunt.” 

This was still hard for me to understand. “Wait, you don’t even know what I do these days, do you? I’m an-“

“An MMA fighter, I know. You’ve become really successful, congratulations.” 

But the congratulations felt empty. He knew what I was doing for a living, knew that I was still living in this town, and didn’t even try to come see me?

“And you knew this was my gym, right?” I asked. 

“I did.” He admitted. 

“And you’ve worked at this ice cream shop how long?” 

“Two months.” 

My heart sunk. 

“Two months, Abel? Two months and you never even tried to see me? It never even crossed your mind to pop in at the gym?” 

He looked guilty but didn’t say anything. Just stared down at the ground and fiddled with his keys. 

I couldn’t help but stare at him. Even through my anger, I couldn’t deny how beautiful he looked to me. His curly brown hair was longer than it ever had been when he lived here. His beautiful blue eyes still struck me, even as he stared at the ground. 

But, no, I couldn’t get caught up in this again. It nearly destroyed me the first time and I had no time to be destroyed again. I was too busy chasing that trophy.

“Bye, Abel.” I said as I turned around and made my way to the car. 

“Wait!” He stopped me. 

I wanted to coldly keep on walking, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“What?” I asked in a monotone voice. 

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see you. I did. I was just… scared.”

“Scared of what? What do you have to be scared of? If I remember correctly, it wasn’t you that got hurt. I’ve never done anything to you. Why would you fear me?” 

“I’m sorry, Gage. I’m really, really sorry. I can’t even express it in words but… but that was a long time ago. Can’t we just let it go?” 

I thought about this for a second. I wouldn’t have thought seeing him again would bother me as much as it did. 

“You know, maybe we could have. Maybe if you had come into my gym and acted friendly and said hello, we could have let it go. But after you spent two months hiding from me? I mean, were you ever planning to see me, Abel?”

He whispered: “No.”

And I didn’t expect anything less because I knew Abel felt a compulsive need to be honest no matter what. 

“Fantastic.” I said, getting in my car and slamming the door behind me. 

This time, he made no attempt to stop me. He just stared on as I pulled out of the parking lot and sped off toward home. 

I was fuming. I didn’t need this shit, not mere weeks away from my fight. This is exactly why I didn’t fuck around with relationships anymore. All it ever amounted to was some bullshit distraction. 

I just couldn’t get his beautiful face out of my head. Even after all these years, he was the most handsome thing I’d ever seen. 

I’d like to say this was because of the connection I had with him… That I felt he was beautiful on the inside so it shone through and enhanced my view of him. But I knew that wasn’t true. Truth is, he was the most handsome man most people had ever met. He was blessed that way. 

But Abel never saw his looks as a blessing. Sometimes I think he hated being overly attractive. It got him nonstop attention from women which was frustrating considering he wasn’t even interested in women. 

During High School, I tried to shield him from it. I’d make up stories about out of town girlfriends he had so that the girls at our High School would back off. He never wanted to come out to more than me and Tyler but he didn’t want to be pestered either.

I wonder how he fared when he moved, though. It couldn’t have been easy in the big city, girls must have flocked to him. Unless he had someone there who kept them all in line… 

No, I didn’t even want to think about it. I didn’t want to think about Abel at all. I especially didn’t want to think of him having a boyfriend. I needed to move forward with my life. I couldn’t let one man affect me this much. 

But it wasn’t just one man… It was Abel.